Media and Television - Analysis of the V-Chip Essay

The V-Chip and TV Parental Guidelines During the last decade, media ratings have been used as a means of addressing concerns about objectionable or potentially harmful media content. Politicians, entertainment industry leaders, and parents alike have turned to media ratings as a middle ground to such concerns somewhere between direct government censorship and not addressing the issue at all. While movie ratings have been in place for several decades, there was a trend in adoption of a rating system for media such as television. The advent of content blocking categories technologies, such as the V-chip, which requires some form of attendant rating system to be useful, has furthered spurred this trend. There is†¦show more content†¦When the television receives this code, channels displaying inappropriate programming, will display an unauthorized to receive message on the screen. Time Magazine reported the chip itself was not cheap when it was first developed since it cost the Shaw Cablesystems 300,000 d ollars in September 1994. (Dickson 1999 p80) Basically the V-chip that will on the surface that will protects kids from violence or other inappropriate shows by blocking it out when the chip reads the code. Yet this expensive chip will not have the capabilities to define the difference between the violence in Schindlers List and Friday the Thirteen. The rating system called the TV Parental Guidelines. Works in conjunction with the V-Chip, represented by little wad of letter and numbers that looks like an eye chart and periodically pops up in the corner of you screen. Since 1997, shows have been rated in seven categories, ranging from TV-Y, suitable for all children, to TV-Ma, which stands for mature audience. Rating icons appear on the screen during the first fifteen seconds of a program and are also noted in some TV listings. In addition, there was talk about having a content label that would have appeared as an extra letter tacked onto the icon for example V for violence. (Gunther 1998 p.64) The letters themselves seem confusing because it does containShow MoreRelated Television and Media - Censorship of TV Violence Not Necessary877 Words   |  4 Pagestelevised media often begins as a result of the concern many adults show over what their children watch. Children begin watching television at an early age, and they are usually lifetime viewers by the time they are two to three years old. There is usually a steady increase in the amount of television watched during a persons childhood. This is followed by a decline during adolescence. W hat is more of a concern to the American people, however, is the amount of violence depicted on the television screenRead MoreTelevision And Its Impact On Children s Lifestyle1742 Words   |  7 Pagesinternet coverage, increased radio frequencies, and digital television coverage. Given the relatively cheap but wide coverage and in depth analysis of news and other programs, uses of television continue to rise. High numbers of populations enjoy wide television coverage at low cost. Due to this reason, the prevalence of television as a news and lifestyle programmer in the society continues to rise. Increasing the society’s access to television services is an important factor in developing educationalRead MoreEffect of Television Research6869 Words   |  28 Pages2 World War-II 6 1.1.3 1946 – 1949 6 1.1.4 1950- 1959 7 1.1.5 1960 – 2000 8 1.2 The History of Color Television 8 1.3 The Inventor of Television 10 1.4 The Definition of Television 12 1.5 Current Issues 13 Positive and Negative Effects of Television 13 1.5.1 Positive Effects of Television on Children 13 †¢ Television as education 13 †¢ Moderation 13 †¢ Family bonding through television 13 †¢ Educational programs 14 †¢ Amusement 14 †¢ Catalyst for reading 14 †¢ Wonder 14 †¢ Introduces newRead MoreEssay on Effects of TV Violence on Children2966 Words   |  12 Pageseffects of violence on television as a prominent variable in childhood and adolescent aggressiveness. The prevalence of violence in television is rampant. It is as addictive as a drug to the children and adolescents, and is accomplishing two extreme reactions: a desensitization towards pain and suffering in the world, and instilling fear of the world as a dark, cold place. Although violence in all media has become a prominent issue, the focus has mainly been on television because it has hadRead MoreEssay on The Corruption of Media3049 Words   |  13 PagesThe Corruption of Media I came up with a problem that concerns many parents. It seems as though violence plays a role in the lives of many people. Even innocent children are affected by the negative things that go on in the huge world we live in. Television violence is often overlooked because of its ability to retain children’s attention. Countless mothers and fathers put their children in front of the television so they can have time to themselves. As a result, the kids are subjected to unnecessaryRead MoreEssay on Television and Media Effect on the Public4834 Words   |  20 PagesTelevision is a vital source from which most Americans receive information. News and media delegates on television have abused theirs powers over society through the airing of appealing news shows that misinform the public. Through literary research and experimentation, it has been proven that peoples perception of reality has been altered by the information they receive from such programs. Manipulation, misinterpreta tion, word arrangement, picture placement and timing are all factors and tricksRead MoreViolence on Television Does Not Impact Behavior Essay3474 Words   |  14 PagesViolence on Television Does Not Impact Behavior TV heroes endorse tanks of noxious,flesh-eating gas The complex age of elaborate laptops, portable color televisions in every room, and pocket radios the size of a basic calculator have all taken their toll on American society. In a furious outburst reflecting the contemporary society in which we live, television has come to represent all that is evil and wicked for our children. Through gruesome, explicit, and often unrealistic portrayals of deathRead MoreEffective Communication of Pepsi Co3206 Words   |  13 PagesEffective Communication Strategies of Pepsi Cola Table of Contents Executive Summery 3 Introduction 4 History 5 Effective Marketing and communication strategies of Pepsi 6 Media Commercials 6 Advantage of media commercials 6 Disadvantages of media commercials 7 Sponsorships 7 Advantages of Sponsorships 8 Disadvantages of Sponsorships 8 How to enhance the effectiveness of Sponsorship 8 Community Activities 8 Advantages of Community activities 9 Disadvantages of communityRead MoreExposure to Violent TV Causes Aggressive Behavior in Children3662 Words   |  15 PagesExposure to Violent Television Causes Aggressive Behavior in Children Abstract: Studies of the aggressiveness in children in relation to the amount of violent television viewed were examined. The results are discussed and a potential solution is proposed which assigns responsibility for the control of television viewing and its effects to parents and children. Television is the most powerful medium the world has ever seen. Never before has it been possible to communicate and so stronglyRead MoreEssay on The Media Violence Debate3490 Words   |  14 PagesTHE MEDIA VIOLENCE DEBATE Introduction Television and video games are favorite ways teenagers spend their leisure hours. Parents and teens themselves have wondered about their effects because of numerous concerns raised with regards to the negative influences that these form of entertainment bring. Many of today’s children grow up with a television at home or even in their own rooms and there have been studies dedicated to the analysis

The Role of the Lesion Method in the Understanding of...

Understanding the relationship between brain and behaviour has been of great phenomenon in the field of neuropsychology yet a compound one. Studying the effects of brain functions on human behaviour requires us to operate with methods that allow us to dissect different aspects of mental functions. This paper therefore addresses one of the ways of assessing brain functions in human and non-human animals; the lesion method (in Banich, 2004). The basic concept of the lesion method is to determine a correlation between a lesion in a certain region of the brain and occurring behaviours. The lesion method strategy thus involves ablating or destroying a proportion of the brain in order to understand the functional nature of that specific brain†¦show more content†¦In addition, neuropsychological research so far has successfully demonstrated consistency in the loss of certain brain regions resulting in disorganised and inconsistent behaviours and the profound difficulties when performing certain tasks with Galen being the first to underpin the complexities that underlie brain-behaviour relationships (in Banich, 2004). One of the most compelling and well-known documented cases of severe brain injury and personality disorders comes from Phineas Gage (1848 in Passer, Smith, Holt, Bremner, Sutherland, Vliek, 2009). Gage was a road rail construction foreman who had experienced an iron metal rod passing right through to his skull at a very high-speed. The iron rod passed under his left cheek bone and excited right through to his head. The severity of Gage’s accident led to damage to his medial region of the prefrontal cortex whilst his motor and premotor cortex remained intact. Thus the damage to Gage’s frontal cortex led to significant changes in his social cognitive functions resulting in a dramatic change to his personality. Gage was no longer the man he used to be and suffered extremely from mood swings, loss of social inhibition, anger and along with other anti-social behaviours (in Passer et al., 2009). To what scientists call a ‘miraculous recovery’ Gage’s case is probably one of the most spellbinding documentations of time leaving a landmark inShow MoreRelatedThe Complex Mechanism Underlying Cognitive Processing1999 Words   |  8 Pagesprocessing, such as memory, learning, reasoning and language understanding. Theories construct frameworks to explain the complex mechanism underlying cognitive processing. 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Within Biological Psychology they areRead MoreUse of Minimally Invasive Techniques in Psychological Studies2908 Words   |  12 Pagesinvasive technique’s to move further and faster in the world of Psychological studies. Studies have proved that by using invasive techniques it has changed the world of psychology because it gives researchers and experimenters a wider view on the brain. Many hospitals around the globe are still using invasive techniques mostly known as open surgery because many people can heal from this operation or surgery. This is because small incisions are made not one large one. It is still quiet commonRead MoreFormalin-Prepared Optic Nerves : Case Study1422 Words   |  6 Pagesneuroglia. The digital images formed were then examined and evaluated to quantify the data. Results revealed the presence of oligodendroglial cells in MSON lesions, which further confirms the link between remyelination as a result or consequence of demyelination. 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Report on Business Ethics Individual Organization

Question: Describe about the Report on Business Ethics for Individual Organization. Answer: Introduction Ethics are the morals formed by the society. They are the values that form a part of our lives internally. Every decision that an individual makes is either ethical or unethical. Ethics are values like being fair, honest, abiding the rules, following the laws, doing the right thing. Ethics are principles that govern the decisions that an individual or organization makes, of choosing between the right and the wrong. A business might undertake some practices that are not ethical, they might undertake some ways or measures in which they promote unethical behavior and fails to realize its impact on the society. Such businesses should be brought under moral compass and should realize that through their decisions are impacting the lives of people in a negative manner. Every ethical decision a business makes affects the lives in a positive manner. A business needs to have ethics in their core values (Brenkert Beauchamp, 2012). Ethics are breached when a decision taken by a business or an i ndividual does not value the moral of the society. It is when they do not realize their moral responsibilities and do actions that have a negative impact. A business should always support ethics and do the right and the just. The actions done by the business should always be such that they have a positive impact on the lives of the people (Cremer, 2009). Advertisement 1 Breach of Ethics Ashley Madison is the worlds largest online networking community that offers online dating service. The company was founded in 2002 and targets people who are already married or in a committed relationship but still want to date. The company employed guerrilla marketing techniques to advertise its site. One of the advertisement marketing campaign run by the company was termed as the most offensive ad because it attracted huge number of complaints. The slogan of the website promoted in this advertisement was Life is short. Have an affair. This advertisement had a bunch of men, who say that they are looking for someone other than their wives. This advertisement promotes infidelity amongst people who are already in a relationship. This advertisement is considered wrong on the moral grounds. It is considered wrong and not in accordance with the standards for the rightful practices. Though adultery is not a criminal offence, but it is considered immoral. It involves breaking of a promise made in the act of marriage. One of the promises made in the act of marriage is thatthe husband and wife will have a sacred relationship and will abstain from having sexual relations with other people. This ad promotes adultery, which indicates the indifference on the part of the husband. It is seen as that he has no concern for the feelings of his spouse. This advertisement promotes immoral behavior amongst people because it makes them believe tha t it is ethical and justified to look for other people for sexual relations while being married to somebody. The spouse cheating could also lie or not tell about their actions, which in a way is equivalent to lying. This also breaks another promise of marriage which is to be honest and faithful to your spouse. This ad gives us ample of reasons to think that adultery is immoral and it also weakens our faith in the strong institution of marriage and family. Marriage and family is good for society and engaging in adultery is against the norms of the society. If a person is not happy in their marriage, opting to look out of their marriage while still being married is unethical, the right and ethical way is judicial separation and then moving ahead in life and looking for ways which provides them happiness (Bruck, 2015). Advertisement 2 Support of an Ethical Approach Australian Government Quit Smoking Ad 2014, released on the day of world no tobacco day, May 31st is considered for support of ethics. This ad is issued in the public interest and warns the people that tobacco is harmful for health. It informs people about the contents of a cigarette and its harmful effect on the health of a person. Each cigarette that a person consumes affects his health and the health of those around him. Smoking whether it is active or passive is considered as a hazard to the health of an individual. There are general restrictions on advertising tobacco, but anti-smoking advertisements fall under an exception. This ad warns people about the risk factors that arise because of tobacco consumption that includes heart diseases, chronic diseases, and Cancers (The department of health, 2015). This anti-smoking ad aims to affect the smoking behavior amongst people. The Australian Government has adopted a sustainable multi-faced approach to reduce the consumption of tobac co. This campaign is powerful in supporting the ethics that suggest reducing and quitting smoking. The government has invested millions in the campaign and is committed to reduce the devastating impacts of smoking on the people. This thirty seconds ad depicts a woman smoking and coughing. That indicates that smoking is harmful for health. It supports the ethics that suggest prohibition of promotion of tobacco (Wayne, 2014). It also supports the ethical practices which suggest that smoking is not a healthy activity for an individual. It not only is a health hazard but also not a socially acceptable practice in the society. This ad is in full support of the ethical approach (The department of health, 2016). Ethics Ethics are the basic fundamental principles that are conducted by a human being. The acts, which are socially acceptable, are not looked down upon and are not morally wrong. Ethics in a way is a code of conduct of ones behavior or activities (Kerns, 2005). Ethics are governed by moral principles. Ethics is also obedience to the law of land, concern for health and safety, concern for natural environment, concern for another human being. Ethics in a narrowed term is being morally right and just (Darely, Messick Tyler, 2001). Ethical issues Ethical issues are basically when a person or an organization has to choose between the two alternatives, usually out of which one is wrong or unethical and the other that is right or ethical (Bottoni, 2010). Ethical issues are always subject to a debate. Some things are morally wrong but not an offence according to the law of the land. Ethics is all about being morally right and fair. When an organization or an individual might do something that is unethical it creates an impression that people can do wrong and can be morally unjust towards others (Badiou Hallward, 2002). The issue taken up in this report in case 1, where an advertisement promotes Adultery, which is an unethical practice and it reduces our faith in the institution of marriage. This is an unethical issue because promoting something that causes marriages to break, people to lie and cheat and relationships to dissolve is unethical in every manner possible in the society. This type of behavior is classified as unethical in every corner of the world. Though adultery is not a criminal offence but it is unethical because it affects the relationships on the moral grounds. Ethics are basically guidelines based on human morality. In this advertisement, the company is affecting the sentiments of women who are married, because their husbands are conveying the message that they are not happy and are looking outside their marriage. This breaks the fundamental promise of the marriage, being in an exclusive and sacred relationship and of honesty and trust. Ethics affects every decision that a person, an organization makes in their course of time. Every organization has to consider its impact on the lives of the people, its impact on the societies before making any decision. The decisions made by the organization reflect their values, their beliefs and with this advertisement it is clear that the company, Ashley Madison clearly doesnt believe in the constitution of marriage and promotes infidelity. Another case taken up is an advertisement that promotes ill effect of tobacco. This ad clearly conveys that it is not an ethical activity to undertake and it affects the lives of the people around the person smoking as well as their own life. This ad is in support of ethics that believes that it is an unhealthy human practice and it destroys lives. This decision to support such ethical issues that makes human aware of their unethical choices is right in every aspect. This advertisement deals with an ethical issue that is of tobacco. The decision to promote such cases, which makes peop le aware of their moral duties and ethics, is socially acceptable. It is indeed an ethical decision taken. Importance of Ethics in Business Decision Making Ethics are important in decision-making; there is a great relationship between the two. An organization has to be ethical while making decisions. Understanding between the right and the wrong is very important while making business decisions. If a decision is made which is not ethical it might impact the lives of several people. It will create an atmosphere in the society that will be not just. Outcomes of the unethical decisions are usually unrest and non-harmony amongst people. The organization involved while making the business decision in the first advertisement did not realize the impact it made in the society. It did not follow the ethical code of conduct. An organizations core values must include ethics. Then only it would be able to take ethical decisions (Ethical leadership, decision-making, and organizations, 2016). Business ethics is not a temporary practice; it is more of a permanent trait that has to be adapted in their behavior while making decisions. Taking ethical dec ision is always a hard task, because ethics involves hard work, abiding by the law, doing things that are right in the first place and always. Whereas wrong and unethical is easy in the first place but it will be a problem in the long run for the company. An organization that makes ethical decisions will face initial troubles but will always be benefited in the long run. The decisions made by the organization or any business is affected by its policies, if the policies of the organization are ethical, the procedures and practices are just and fair then the outcomes of the decisions taken would result in a positive manner. Unethical values results in the decisions that impact the lives of the people in an adverse manner. They are not based or formed out of social norms or cultural practices. They do not assess the moral implications that they might cause. Unethical decisions are not based out of moral philosophy. Whereas making an ethical judgment require an understanding of the perc eption of people, of the interpretation of the thoughts, realization of the set of values people have and estimation that how people would react to that certain decision and how significantly it would impact their lives. A decision that significantly impacts the lives of the people should always be ethical. We live in a society where people are affected and if they are affected in an adverse manner, than it is considered wrong on the grounds of morality even if it is not an offense under the law of the land. A business needs to make decisions that only positively affects the lives of the people and that would only happen when Ethics are a great part of business and its activities. Conclusion Ethics is a moral concept. They are something that affects the lives of every individual whether in a positive or negative manner. Ethics just form a part of the lives of the people and the way the conduct their activities. When an organization conducts unethical behavior they are affecting the lives of people in an adverse manner, which here was shown by the unethical business conducted and promoted by a company. Support of ethics was shown by the second case, where people were made aware of their unethical and socially unacceptable behavior and were requested to stop. Ethics forms a core part of the decision-making in the business. Every decision that a business takes is either ethical or unethical. An ethical business will always realize its moral responsibility towards the society and will always take ethical decisions. References Australian associated press. (2016, August 2016). International report into Ashley Madison hack 'highly critical' of site's privacy. The Guardian. Retrieved from URL https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/aug/24/international-report-into-ashley-madison-hack-highly-critical-of-sites-privacy Badiou, A. Hallward, P. (2002). Ethics: An Essay on the Understanding of Evil. US: Verso. Bottoni, M. (2010). The Cost of Unethical Behavior: A Pending Issue at the Argonne National Laboratory. US: AuthorHouse. Brenkert, G. Beauchamp, T. (2012). The Oxford Handbook of Business Ethics. US:OUP. Bruck, S. (2015, May 15th).Ashley Madison Ad.Retrieved from URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQp9mkuCYBM Cremer, D. (2009). Psychological Perspectives on Ethical Behavior and Decision Making. US: IAP. Darely, J., Messick, D., Tyler, T. (2001). Social Influences on Ethical Behavior in Organization. US: Taylor Francis. Ethical leadership, decision-making, and organizations. (2016). Retrieved from URL https://www.businessballs.com/ethical_management_leadership.htm Kerns, C. (2005) Value-centered Ethics: A Proactive System to Shape Ethical Behavior. US: Human Resource Development. The department of health. (2015, September 2015). Tobacco advertising. Retrieved from URL https://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/tobacco-advert. The department of health. (2016, May 1st). New anti-smoking campaign aims to close the Gap. Retrieved from URL https://www.health.gov.au/internet/ministers/publishing.nsf/Content/health-mediarel-yr2016-nash012.htm Wayne, L. (2014, February 21st). Australian Government Quit Smoking 2010 Ad. Retrieved from URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiJ17uXv1WY

Productivity and Cost Competitiveness †Free Samples to Students

Question: Discuss about the Productivity and Cost Competitiveness. Answer: Introduction Delta is a renowned American airlines company which is headquartered at Atlanta Georgia. The organization operates almost over 5400 flights in a daily basis and they serve a domestic as well as international network that involves over 310 destinations across 54 nations (David Mc, 2013). The main purpose of this report is to highlight that the organization is using real time data generated in the aircraft for the benefits of the customers and to satisfy them to the fullest, aiming monopolizing the business. It is a matter of fact that, United States airline company Delta tries to squeeze out the most benefits from the real-time data gathered by the aircraft for the betterment of customer safety and satisfaction (Oum Yu, 2012). Thus, the organization is using a tool to provide the pilots with necessary information and the level of their flying and landing skills. The organization intends to give the customers more satisfaction and more security for their betterment and the general betterment of the organization (Moreno-Hines Kirkman, 2013). The organization is also taking up some alternate programs using the real time data for the benefits of the customers. Delta airlines are targeting to achieve the most customer satisfaction level than any other airlines company, as they want to monopolize the market. The organization is currently trying to use the real time data to satisfy their customers to the next level (Oum Yu, 2012). The organization can use these data for collect and analyze approach, so that they can analyze more than 150 variables in the customer profile and they can provide highly personalized offers. A regular 6 hours flight produces data of above 240 terabytes sensor data and Delta having more than enough aircrafts they get a lot of data, which can be used for betterment of the customers (Steven, Dong Dresner, 2012). The information from the data allows the organization to detect the issues that can arise in future and the organization would benefit from that for providing a smooth flight to all of its c ustomers. The organization sometimes uses data to analyze the customers purchase activity and thus they can offer them tailor made offers (Moreno-Hines Kirkman, 2013). The big data also allows the organization to detect some specific customer behaviors and they can determine the preferences of those customers so that they can provide the best service they can expect (Yee Liau Pei Tan, 2014). The big data also allows the organization to make strategic decisions to gasp the market by successfully attracting the customers for choosing their organization for travelling (Lee Worthington, 2014). Conclusion Thus to conclude, it can be said that, the organization Delta Airlines of United States of America is trying to reduce the harmful factors and enhancing the satisfaction level of the customers to become the most successful airlines company in America. They are also eying to set a milestone for the other airlines organizations to follow. It can also be said that, Delta is trying too hard for technological advancement to provide the customers with the comfort level that is beyond their expectation along with for the betterment of the safety issues. References Moreno-Hines, F., Kirkman, D. (2013, June). Assessing the NextGen Avionics Business Case from the Airline Perspective. InTenth USA/Europe Air Traffic Management Research and Development Seminar (ATM2013). Oum, T. H., Yu, C. (2012).Winning airlines: Productivity and cost competitiveness of the worlds major airlines. Springer Science Business Media. Steven, A. B., Dong, Y., Dresner, M. (2012). Linkages between customer service, customer satisfaction and performance in the airline industry: Investigation of non-linearities and moderating effects.Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review,48(4), 743-754. Yee Liau, B., Pei Tan, P. (2014). Gaining customer knowledge in low cost airlines through text mining.Industrial Management Data Systems,114(9), 1344-1359.

How to Gain Credibility on the Web

HOW TO GAIN CREDIBILITY ON THE WEB Our economy is changing – we buy things now from people we never have met (and never will meet). Websites like eBay and Amazon use a customer rating system to add credibility to sellers, but independent websites don’t offer the same peace of mind to visitors. So, how can you inject some credibility into your website to help differentiate you from the phoneys? A few tried-and-true methods can help put your future clients at ease: †¢ A â€Å"Testimonials† page with quotes from past clients. If you don’t have any testimonials, start asking for them now. †¢ Case studies, including any real statistics or real results (i.e. don’t round â€Å"103 clients† to â€Å"over 100 clients† or â€Å"47%† to â€Å"about 50%). †¢ Lists of previous clients and projects. †¢ Facts about your reputation and stability (including the number of years in business, number of employees, and the size of your operations). †¢ Photos of real company employees (no stock photography, please!).

Enders Shadow

Enders Shadow This is a book that follows a series of other books starting with Enders Game. This book takes a different look at the same character ender. In the first book the main character was ender. In this book the main character is bean. Bean is a mutant but not physically. He is just abnormally intelligent. In fact he is maybe the smartest kid in the world. Except for the fact that he is only 6. Bean grew up in the streets. He was near death when he devised a plan that would start a gang. He told all the little kids to pick a bully and to beat him up into making him protect them. They Chose a boy named Achillies. But Achillies was bitter about bean choosing to beat him up and while the other children learned to love Achillies for the food that was given to them because of there newly formed gang Bean was outcast.Psophocarpus tetragonolobus (winged bean)While all this is going on the world is in dire need of a savior to protect the world from a species of alien that are threatning to destroy the world. So achielies tries to kill bean but b4 he can bean is taken into training to protect the world. Anyway it is a really good book. I suggest you read it.

Pricing Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Pricing - Research Paper Example This discussion stresses that pricing features are manufacturing cost, place, current market situation, and value of manufactured goods. Pricing is considered as a significant factor in the economic pricing allotment theory. Pricing is an elementary factor for generating finance besides the troll to help optimization of profit. It is also considered as the essential Ps of the marketing mix, alone with the other three characteristics of product, promotion, and place. Price is the single â€Å"income creating† component along with the four Ps which are only the sources of cost.According to the report findings  pricing is a repeated physical process which has a direct bearing or sale orders. Aspects such as a predetermined amount, mass break, backing or sales movement, precise dealer quote, price existing on entry, consignment or charge date, mixture of numerous instructions or lines etc will also influence pricing decisions. Computerized system necessitate extra complex and pe rpetuation but may avoid pricing errors. The requirements of customers can be transformed into demand only if the consumer has the readiness and capability to acquire the product and it comes with a reasonable price. Thus price is extremely significant in marketing.  There are various methods to price the goods manufactured. Launching a pricing policy is an action that must be finished before established merchandise expansion.

Managerial Financial Resources and Decisions Research Paper

Managerial Financial Resources and Decisions - Research Paper Example Certain debt agreements impose business restrictions. These restrictions may impair the firm's borrowing abilities C) Appropriate sources Though Wal- Mart Stroes Inc. is properly appropriately financed at present financed with as most of its finance has come through equity contributions. It is low geared company as its debt equity ratio is 0.60. That company may not be playing on gearing but the equity holders are in control with the affairs of the company. Further financing can be raised though debts in case the company intend to take advantage of the gearing. However, at present the company is appropriately financed. Question No. 2 a) Cost of different sources of funds; Costs of Public Issue Costs of Public issue depend upon the size of issue and the level of marketing adopted. The important expenses normally incurred for a public issue are as under: Underwriting expense, Brokerage, Fee to the mangers to the issues, Fee to the Registrars to the issue, Printing Expenses, Courier and Postage expenses, Advertising and Publicity Expenses, Listing fee, and Stamp duty. Public offer of debt The mechanisms for a public offer of a debt security are much the same as that of a public offer of equity. But a debt issue cannot be made unless credit rating from a credit rating agency is obtained and disclosed in the offer document. So rating agency's cost is in addition to cost of public issue Obtaining term loan This is perhaps the cheapest source o obtaining long term finance, as generally the dealings between company and the financial institution providing the loan do not invite costs of the type involved in public issues. However, the company has to pay for professional for obtaining feasibility and other reports. b) Importance of... The mechanisms for a public offer of a debt security are much the same as that of a public offer of equity. But a debt issue cannot be made unless credit rating from a credit rating agency is obtained and disclosed in the offer document. So rating agency's cost is in addition to cost of public issue This is perhaps the cheapest source o obtaining long term finance, as generally the dealings between company and the financial institution providing the loan do not invite costs of the type involved in public issues. However, the company has to pay for professional for obtaining feasibility and other reports. Financial planning is part of a larger planning system in the firm. The planning process begins with a statement of the firm's goal or mission, which is usually stated in qualitative terms. From the mission of the firm, the strategy is derived which defines the products or services the firm will produce and markets it will serve. To support the strategy, policies and budgets are developed in various areas such as research and development, production, marketing, personnel, and finance. A financial planning represents a blue print of what a firm purposes to do in future. Financial planning have generally the following elements: 3.

Merit Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Merit - Essay Example In the practical world, this will be unrealistic because people are used to the contrary. There will be many questions of human rights that will arise. From the ancient periods, it is difficult to measure what is considered equally just. In the contemporary situation, most people are rewarded on the basis of assumption and estimates. In the education sector, most students do not get what is rightfully theirs. Most students feel that the examination they do does not entail all that the syllabus covers. The examinations will only cover specific areas instead of the entire syllabus. Students feel discriminated because the exam might not cover their strong points hence they will fail. The exams must be set in a way that the students demonstrate what they have learnt. The examinations should also be done regularly and the results compiled. The system of doing examinations once in every semester does not give the students a chance to exhibit their strengths in many units. In some cases, th e ladies are given some exemptions when they are applying for certain courses (Rachel, 2010). From the ancient times, men used to get more rewards than the women because they used to do a lot of work. Women rights advocates came up with arguments that the women were being discriminated. This has led to the emergence of affirmative actions for the women.

The Fast Growth Of Facebook Inc Commerce Essay

The Fast Growth Of Facebook Inc Commerce Essay Facebook Inc the fastest growing e-commerce organisation, with a strong innovative value on it starts up that created by the founder Mark Zuckerberg as a young entrepreneur with managing the organisation with continually growth and trying to sustain the business that has a strong potential for improvement and expending to go big. Facebook founded in 2004 is one of the fastest growing social networking website. Facebook.com operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. since September 2006. Facebook was founded by  Mark Zuckerberg as currently one of the youngest billionaires in the world with personal wealth of US$4 billion in 2010 together  with his college roommates and fellow computer science students  Eduardo Saverin,  Dustin Moskovitz  and  Chris Hughes, at Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA (Business insider Inc. 2010). Initially the websites membership was initially limited by the founders to Harvard students, but was expanded to other colleges in the Boston area, the  Ivy League, and  Stanford University. It later expanded further to include (potentially) any university student, then high school students, and, finally, to anyone aged 13 and over. The website currently has more than 400 million active users worldwide. Based on Joseph Schumpeter entrepreneurship innovation theory Mark I descript as entrepreneur is the one who is innovative, creative and has foresight. The characteristic best fit the founder of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg that innovate of a website that initially try to connect students and share information on the web and he has the foresight of the website is going to expend worldwide. E-commerce businesses require only limited startup capital. Developing the idea and a website is not prohibitively expensiveà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ key issue is making sure web user visit the site of the business, a problem which intensifies all the time as more and more sites are put up. However venture capitalist have at time been investing in these businesses, often accepting risks and uncertainty not normally associated with venture capitalistsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Bolton, W. and Thompson, B.K. (2000) According Bolton, W. 2000, there are 3 factors which determine the extent and value of the opportunity: 1. the concept or idea, 2. Innovation, 3. Engagement and implementation. The concept and idea of Facebook created the value for this business and act as the strongest social network and gaining popularity in speed. The strong traffic determinant and lead to the potential for profit and revenues to attract the potential investors and the advertising revenues opportunities. Because of the innovation and distinction advantages compare with its competitors it builds new values and thus sustain any early advantage. In the early stage engagement and implementation to set up the infrastructure and management was well managed. Farther on there are 3 further factors which reflect the project or business outcomes: 1. Traffic 2. Finance. 3. Visibility. Figure 3, source Hitwise us 2010 Figure 4, Facebook mobile, source: Facebook.com 2010 The booming of Facebook popularity among the globe generated More than 400 million active users, 50% of our active users log on to Facebook in any given day, People spend over 500 billion minutes per month on Facebook, More than 70 translations available on the site, about 70% of Facebook users are outside the US, over 300,000 users helped translate the site through the translations application. There are more than 100 million active users currently accessing Facebook through their mobile devices. Facebook mobile user are twice more active on Facebook than non-mobile users. There are more than 200 mobile operators in 60 countries working to deploy and promote Facebook mobile products. (Facebook.com,2010). Financial history of Facebook likes any other entrepreneurs it started up with a funding of unofficial number USD15, 000. According to the official website of Facebook the round one official funding was $500,000 from PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, in june 2004. Followed a year later $12.7 million in venture capital from Accel Partners, April 2005; Round three: $27.5 million from Greylock Partners leading the round, Meritech Capital Partners participating, and Accel Partners and Peter Thiel increasing their investment in the company, (Facebook 2010). A leaked  cash flow statement showed that during the 2005  fiscal year, Facebook had a net loss of $3.63  million. Form the year 2005 to 2006 there are lots of companies trying to buy off the latest social network, company such as Yahoo! with price reaching as high as USD1 billion. Board member of Facebook, indicated that Facebooks internal valuation was around $8  billion based on their projected revenues of $1  billion by 2015. On July 17, 2007, Zuckerberg said that selling Facebook was unlikely because he wanted to keep it independent, saying Were not really looking to sell the company; were not looking to  IPO  anytime soon. Its just not the core focus of the company.On October 24, 2007, Microsoft announced that it had purchased a 1.6% share of Facebook for $240 million, giving Facebook a total implied value of around $15 billion.  However, Microsoft bought preferred stock that carried special rights, such as liquidation preferences that meant Microsoft would get paid before common stockholders if the company is sold. Microsofts purchase also included rights to place international a ds on Facebook. The investment follows by more tycoons in November 2007, for example Hong Kong billionaire  Li Ka-shing  invested $60  million and BusinessWeek stated that the private sales by employees, as well as purchases by venture capital firms had and were being. Factures of the website are free for end users; main revenue generates through advertising such as banner ads, referral marketing and casual games and act as a data bank. According to an interview with the CEO of Facebook, there is undisclosed information about the specific revenues generated through this website. (Michael Arrington, 2008). In September 2009, Facebook claimed that it had turned cash flow positive for the first time. Because of the nature of the business as a social networking website, the immediate brand popularity is growing strong. Instant coverage from internet blogs, main stream news around the world about the organisation had been published. However brand identity and brand image should be maintain on positive relationship with the investors and build a balance between the money making relationship with the advertisers and user-friendly with keep the key factor of usability for the end users. Figure 5, source: Ichak Adizes 1988 Figure 6, source: boyd, d. m., Ellison, N. B. (2007 Generally social network companies have a short cooperate life cycle, because of the nature of the business, it will easily replace by other innovative and more advanced site. For example Myspace buyout by News Corporation and Friendster eventually conjunction with its new financial acquisition MOL Global Pte. To keep a social network company in a long run it will need to keep the best interests of the users and invertors. Innovation is the key elements for maintain the business, article from the CNN website review that the signals of success are numerous from investors to market positioning to their founding teams. Key among those seems to be the need for continued innovation and consistent service. Bebo, meanwhile, was a MySpace clone which was able to gain an early foothold in U.K. schools it too lacked a long-term vision beyond getting big fast. Fittingly, MySpaces failings were similar to Friendsters. A lack of technical innovation led to crowded, slow-loading profile pages, sp am messages and a slew of hacking attempts. MySpace also failed to keep up with the rapidly evolving demands of Web users: While Facebook introduced its continually-updated news feed in 2006, MySpace took more than a year to respond with a similar feature. MySpace stagnated; Facebook blossomed. A similar fate awaited Bebo: Post-acquisition, innovation ground to halt and U.K. users embarked on an exodus to Facebooks more fertile shores. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg still maintain as the head of top management that control and lead the organisation. Following will be discussing few of the business strategy directions by the CEO. First of all based on the information by FT.com November 2009 Facebook is showing clear signs that it is preparing for an eventual public offering, It has followed Googles lead and introduced a dual-class stock structure and the controversial structures give certain shareholders, usually founders much stronger voting rights. Yearly event held by  Facebook- f8 conference. Its mission is to bring together the developers and entrepreneurs who are building the social web. Beside f8 is a Facebook developer conference where developers and entrepreneurs collaborate on the future of personalized and social technologies. In the Facebook f8 conference 2010 Mark Zuckerberg announced few of the new features of Facebook such as Social Plugins (Like Button), Open Graph Protocol, Graph API and, OAuth 2.0. The new features will allow developers to store information about their users if they connect to a site. The company has also released a set of plug-in, such as a like button for any site that will tap into its social clearinghouse without much effort. Facebook is depending entirely on their own development technical ability to keep things fresh. For the company, survival is about the innovative services that developers build on their platforms. Most recent news, Facebook will host developer conferences which aim to foster innovative new ideas and developments around their respective services. One of the success factors for Facebook is that others social networking websites were unable to cultivate such healthy ecosystems around their products, eventually reaching the aging and dies off stage. Conclusion As a dot.com organisation, Facebook Inc is a successful organisation with fast growing and expending progress and it has strong connection and relationship with the advertising industrial. The organisation depends heavily on advertising as the main source of income. The organisation needs a strong research and development team to make sure it keep the innovation idea fresh, and building a platform that attract with the most linkage with other brands and companies. Based on the performance and development of Facebook, the organisation is heading toward a more advertising oriented platform that searching for a method to create Facebook as the central of the internet portal that link advertiser and end user in to a new dimension.

A Winless Battle :: essays papers

A Winless Battle Sometimes in life, there are times when you are faced with a struggle and often times, no matter how hard you try to get yourself out of this struggle, you just can’t and you end up feeling as though you have lost the battle. In â€Å"A Streetcar Named Desire,† by Tennessee Williams, there are four characters that really display this situation. Blanche, Stanley, Stella, and Mitch are the four characters that display this situation. In Tennessee Williams play, â€Å"A Streetcar Named Desire,† there are no victors, only victims. In this play, Blanche is the older sister of Stella and she comes to Elysian Fields to live with her sister because she has nowhere else to live because she was asked to leave the last town that she was living in because of the life that she was choosing to live there. Blanche also lost her family’s estate, Belle Reve. Therefore, she had to go to the last place that she could think of and that was the house of her sister, Stella. From the start of the play, it is imminent that Blanche is the victim of her own life, and not a victor. She first lost her husband when she was a very young girl because of the fact that she found out that he was gay. She was in love with this man and when she found out, she was just heartbroken. However, she didn’t want to tell him that she knew about his secret so she kept it a secret for a while. But then, one night while they were dancing, she all of sudden just came out and told him what she knew. He was so embarrassed by this tha t he ran out of the room and shot and killed himself. That is one of the battles that she was the victim of. Then when she loses Belle Reve and is forced to live in a town called Laurel, she chooses to live a life that she doesn’t want to. She forces herself into prostitution because she has no other way of making money to help support herself. During this time, she is living in a hotel called the Flamingo and many men are coming up to her room every night. This disturbs the peace within the hotel and when the hotel and the town of Laurel figure out what she is doing in the hotel, they tell her to leave the hotel and also the town because they don’t want anyone like her to be there.

“Of Mice And Men” by John Steinbeck Essay

In â€Å"Of Mice And Men† by John Steinbeck there are many examples of verbal and physical conflict. There are person vs person and person vs self. The author uses dialogue and figurative description to put his ideas across to readers. Steinbeck starts the book with verbal person vs person conflict between George and Lennie during the orientation of the characters. â€Å"When I think of all the swell times I could have without you, I go nuts.† As this is said, the audience realises George feels that Lennie needs constant attention. There is evidence of person vs self conflict for George when he is going to shoot Lennie as he is worried about killing his friend. The author uses descriptive visual imagery, â€Å"The hand shook violently, but his face set and his hand steadied. He pulled the trigger.† The responders understand George’s personal inner conflict as he doesn’t want to kill Lennie, but knows he must save him from the violence of the lynch mob. Verbal and physical conflict occurs when Lennie accidentally kills Curly’s wife in the barn. She struggles and panics a Lennie grabs her hair, then Lennie accidentally breaks her neck when she won’t be quiet. The responders recognise the uncontrolled strength of Lennie as he tries to silence Curly’s wife who was struggling to get away. Readers understand that Steinbeck has foreshadowed this conflict from the beginning. Steinbeck offers conflict of different kinds in â€Å"Of Mice And Men†. He shows this through descriptive imagery and dialogue to send the message of conflict. The issues and physical, verbal and internal.

Free Essays on Inflation

Inflation Inflation, can our economy grow without it? What is inflation? The definition of inflation is â€Å"an abnormal increase in available currency and credit beyond the proportion of available goods.† Although, Webster’s is considered by most to be the overall best dictionary, WordNet states the meaning of inflation a lot clearer by saying, â€Å"it’s a general and progressive increase in prices.† It occurs when the value of goods rises faster than the value of money. The usual approximate measure of this is the Consumer Price Index, which weigh the prices of different goods according to importance in a typical budget and then shows how much the prices of these goods have increased. This immediately raises some problems; for example, the weight of the goods must change over time. The importance of computers was not measured in the price index 100 years ago. Another problem is the failure of the price index to capture changes in quality. The quality of a good may have improved by 20%, while the price has only risen by 10%. The consumer price index doesn’t feel this should be a factor, but many would disagree. Hence, inflation is not easy to define in practice. This should be kept in mind when discussing how to defeat inflation. There have been numerous theories on how to defeat inflation and even some theories on whether, or not, it should be defeated at all. Some say that inflation is not only expected, but also often, needed. Economists believe that in order for the economy to expand and grow, there has to be some level of inflation. Therefore, the opposite holds true as well. If you want to lower inflation, you have to accept a semi-standard economy. They call this tradeoff the Phillips Curve. The Phillips Curve is thought to be the â€Å"proper† way of balancing economic growth and inflation. For this reason the Federal Reserve is always looking for the perfect equilibrium at which we can maximize our economic growth wh i... Free Essays on Inflation Free Essays on Inflation Inflation Inflation, can our economy grow without it? What is inflation? The definition of inflation is â€Å"an abnormal increase in available currency and credit beyond the proportion of available goods.† Although, Webster’s is considered by most to be the overall best dictionary, WordNet states the meaning of inflation a lot clearer by saying, â€Å"it’s a general and progressive increase in prices.† It occurs when the value of goods rises faster than the value of money. The usual approximate measure of this is the Consumer Price Index, which weigh the prices of different goods according to importance in a typical budget and then shows how much the prices of these goods have increased. This immediately raises some problems; for example, the weight of the goods must change over time. The importance of computers was not measured in the price index 100 years ago. Another problem is the failure of the price index to capture changes in quality. The quality of a good may have improved by 20%, while the price has only risen by 10%. The consumer price index doesn’t feel this should be a factor, but many would disagree. Hence, inflation is not easy to define in practice. This should be kept in mind when discussing how to defeat inflation. There have been numerous theories on how to defeat inflation and even some theories on whether, or not, it should be defeated at all. Some say that inflation is not only expected, but also often, needed. Economists believe that in order for the economy to expand and grow, there has to be some level of inflation. Therefore, the opposite holds true as well. If you want to lower inflation, you have to accept a semi-standard economy. They call this tradeoff the Phillips Curve. The Phillips Curve is thought to be the â€Å"proper† way of balancing economic growth and inflation. For this reason the Federal Reserve is always looking for the perfect equilibrium at which we can maximize our economic growth wh i...

graham greene essays

graham greene essays A. How setting shows the main theme A. How symbolism shows the main theme B. How characters show symbolism A. How characters show the main theme 1. Mr. and Mrs. Fellow, Mr. Tench A. What makes up the main theme In the novel The Power and the Glory, Graham Greene uses the elements of fiction to show a main theme. Some of the elements he uses are them, characters, symbolism, and setting. The way Greene uses these elements to show a main theme for his novel, is very good. The elements come together to show the theme, which is pity. Pity for a fellow human being. Setting is a major element of fiction. The setting of a piece of literature can set the mood of the scene. Setting, can also make the reader feel a certain way. Some of the scenes in The Power and the Glory evoke certain feelings in the reader. In the scene when the whiskey priest was put the crowded jail, for having liquor on him, Greene makes the scene so horrible that you cant help but feel sorry for the priest. As Kenneth Allott said, The crowded unseen figures in the dark seem like shapes from a Dore hell.(182). In the scenes when the priest is traveling from town to town, the setting is very rough. Through dense forests and complete darkness, he travels and again, the reader feels pity for someone he doesnt know but feels connected to because of being human. As Kenneth Allott said, There is a blanketing sense of crueltys omnipresence ... and very frequently this mood is symbolized by a peculiar background of squalor ...(15). Some critics think that the novel is a melodramatic thriller about a policeman chasing a priest, romanticized ...

Border Security Technology Deployment Case Study

Border Security Technology Deployment - Case Study Example SBInet as a system represents a complex case of conflicts of interests whereby: 1. National Security concerns are marred by political interference. This is especially evident in the statement acquired from the contractor. Another case of political intrusion is mentioned by the Border Patrol Station Chief.He claims that some Washington based politicians had the towers installed approximately three hundred and thirty feet apart from the border so as to avoid â€Å"sending the wrong message.† Their new positions consequently minimised their capabilities. The Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Sector Chief and the Border Patrol Station Chief cite the Native American tribal councils as a major problem. According to Border Patrol Station Chief, there is a quick change of governance in the Native American tribal councils and every new leadership undermines all agreements that had been made by the previous leadership. To make matters worse Unmanned Arial Vehicles are not allowed to fly over their territories without permission. Neither can the border patrols cr oss without their permission. According to the CBP, Sector Chief Native American land is a preferred route for illegal immigrants due to its inaccessibility. The only way to deal with politics in this situation is to have a regulatory committee that tables the grievances of any trouble departments especially due to external interference. This is because some untouchables may have their way in jeopardising the SBInet operations due to their lack of professionalism in the particular field that is border security (CNN, 2012). It will be necessary to have the committee immune to manipulation or even intimidation so as to have a dependable body that is fair to all. 2. Conflicts between involved parties undermine border protection There are conflicts between the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). ICE, whose responsibility is to monitor, investigate and to resolve illegal immigration deeds seems to be at loggerheads with CBP. CBP whose respon sibility is to patrol the border and to monitor illegal entry, apprehend and detain the illegal immigrants claims that ICE does not share information related to their common line of work. It is clear that the line of work between the two departments is very much related hence there is a need for co-operation especially from ICE. The ICE department claims that when the Department of Homeland Security was introduced the ICE, and CBP became one and blames the CBP for trying to take their assets. Meanwhile, CBP claims that ICE does not share their sensor data. According to the Border Patrol Station Chief it is difficult for the right hand to work without knowing what the left hand is doing. In as much as that makes perfect sense it is clear that the individual departments are supposed to be independent of each other. Hence it would be wiser to either have both departments combined into one with all their duties synchronised. Another option would be having their duties defined into clear , separate undertakings such that there will be no inter dependence between each other. This suggestion is mainly based on the reality that there may be policies within the individual departments that may make the ability to inter relate somehow constrained. The inter relations between the departments should also be put down on paper so that future conflicts be avoided and procedures of interactions be common knowledge. 3. Lack of accountability and responsibility hence blame games Blames games are commonplace in SBInet with no particular individual taking responsibility for any faults. For example, the Border Patrol

To what extent are class, racial and gender inequalities inter-related Essay

To what extent are class, racial and gender inequalities inter-related (in the UK) - Essay Example Researching wealth enables us to move beyond the snapshot picture of short-term gendered economic inequality that we obtain when we analyze wages and onto exploring the longer term buildup of gendered economic inequities. In this way, the intensity of the economic disadvantage women face can be better revealed and its implications better analyzed. Gender is a key variable in the analysis of inequalities in wealth and is the focus of this article. Yet the sociological and economic literatures on womens and mens economic positions reveal an increasing focus on other, non-gendered, social differences. Paying more attention to these other social divisions’ means that we are able to develop a fuller understanding of the picture of economic advantage and disadvantage in contemporary society. In the 2002 special issue of Feminist Economics devoted to theorizing gender, caste, race, and class, Rose M. Brewer, Cecilia A. Conrad, and Mary C. King (2002, 6) lamented the fact that much of the research published in the journal has centered purely on gender and, in so doing, has neglected the ways in which gender is shaped by other divisions. Examining only what unites women and separates them from men passes over major, significant divisions such as race and class that have ramifications for understanding the experiences of different groups of women and men in society. Put simply, as bell hooks (2000: 19) asked in her well-known critique of the feminist call for equality with men: [S]ince men are not equal in a white, supremacist, patriarchal class structure, which men do women want to be equal to? The attention that is now being paid to class, race, and other divisions, alongside gender, reflects the impact of an increasingly sophisticated theorizing of social divisions that has raised two pertinent issues for our understanding of inequalities in society. First, one of the core characteristics of a

What is new media Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

What is new media - Essay Example nication content, such that either unique content would be passed on to one individual at a time, or general content would be passed to many audiences at a time, but both would not occur simultaneously (Crosbie, 1998). The old media comprised of one-to-one (interpersonal communication) or one-to-many (mass communication), where the interpersonal communication would allow for passing a unique content to one person only; at a time, while the mass media would allow for the distribution of the same message to a large audience, but without the ability to make the content individualized or made unique for any single individual (Crosbie, 1998). Thus, the New Media can be defined as the mode of communication that allows for unique and general content transmission at a time, meaning that using the new media, an individual can be able to communicate a unique message to a selected individual in form of a one-to-one communication, and at the same time be able to send a general communication content to a wider audience (Crosbie, 1998). Thus, New Media is characterized by the possibility of democratization of the communication content; the possibility to send and receive communication either in the form of unique or general content for an individual. The New Media can also be defined as a creation of the technological advancement, such that it is a communication media that could not have been possible if technology did not exist (Manovich, 2001). It is possible to communicate one-to-one without any technological aid, for example through face-to-face communication of two individuals. Additionally, it is possible to communicate to a wider audience without the use of technology, for example a leader addressing a gathering. However, it is not possible to communicate a unique content to one individual and pass general information to the rest of the gathering, if technology does not exist. In this respect, New Media is the communication media that is technology-dependent, and which

Ethics in Intelligence Essay Example for Free

Ethics in Intelligence Essay On a clear, late summer day in September of 2001, the hectic yet peaceful lower portion of Manhattan, New York City was turned into the site of one of the largest mass murders in world history when terrorist attacks turned the once imposing World Trade Center complex to a smoking pile of debris and left thousands of Americans dead, physically and psychologically scarred for life. In the aftermath of this act of aggression, the United States, with the cooperation of allies around the world, launched intelligence collection efforts on a scale that had never before been seen. Some nations would be able to do so as they wished without regard for the privacy or rights of their people, but for a nation conceived in liberty and human rights as the US was, issues of ethics and the preservation of individual rights had to be balanced against the dire need to protect the masses from further violence. This research will focus on the ethics of intelligence collection in the US, Constitutional implications of these efforts for American citizens, and the consideration of how much liberty US citizens should be willing to sacrifice for the greater good. Ethics of Intel Collections, Means and Methods Intelligence gathering has always been an essential part of the preservation of American security, dating back to the days of the American colonies and beyond. In the late 1990s, for all of the violence brewing in other nations and the potential for domestic terrorism in the US, the intelligence gathering efforts of American officials consisted mostly of the analysis of data from the comfort of offices located in the US and some offices scattered across the globe. However, these efforts were initially proven to be weak by international terrorist acts against American military installations in other nations, and the original emergence of Osama Bin Laden as an international terrorist to be closely monitored. With such formidable enemies to consider, it became obvious that the old ways of gathering intelligence were badly in need of change, including the introduction of more field intelligence agents, enhancements to technology, better networking with other nations, and many clandestine activities. With the need to increase and improve all levels of intelligence gathering in the US, the question arises as to how far a nation like the US, which stands as a beacon of righteousness and safety in the world, will be willing to go to gain the level of security that is needed to protect American citizens at home and abroad? The child of this need emerged, known as the Department of Homeland Security, an organization which put on a public front of protection of the US in a manner that is illustrative of ethical behavior and forceful yet proper action. With the introduction of the Department, the public gained a higher level of confidence in the protection they would be receiving. However, many of the methods that were necessary, at least behind the scenes, were of the nature that the general public would frown upon at the very least, and rise up in heated protest against at worst if it were known the full extent of what the Department was forced to resort to in the interest of intelligence gathering. Among the steps that were taken, such actions as the monitoring of telephone and Internet communications, the detention of suspected terrorists and the like began to raise the issue of the appropriateness of such activities in line with the promises and obligations of the US Constitution. Constitutional Implications of United States Intel Collection on United States Citizens The war against terrorism is unlike any other war that the US has seen; fighting an enemy that does not wear a recognizable uniform or hails from any specific geographic location poses quite a challenge and makes the application of conventional warfare tactics all but impossible. Therefore, as with those conventional warfare methods, it is necessary for certain drastic measures to be taken. However, it is important to understand that there are Constitutional implications for such actions, especially in the areas of intelligence collection which require frequent intrusions into the privacy that Americans hold so dear and have fought and died to protect for hundreds of years. First, there are misconceptions about the Constitution that are necessary to point out. Specifically, there is a thin line between the investigation of criminal activity and suspected threats to national security, which of course are in and of themselves criminal but take on an added dimension when one realizes that the safety and future of the nation hangs in the balance. In the interest of national security, it is permissible for the surveillance of Americans, domestically and abroad without the obtaining of search warrants, which are usually the standard procedure when an American is being investigated as a possible criminal, under any ordinary circumstances. In this instance, permissible and acceptable are two entirely different things. While authorities may be allowed to basically spy on their fellow citizens so that the nation is protected, where does this leave those who are the target of the surveillance? The argument can fairly be made that if one is not doing anything wrong, if they are being monitored, they actually have nothing with which to be concerned. Further, if that surveillance yields information on other wrongdoers who are in fact a threat to America, the net result makes all of it worthwhile. The issue of habeas corpus also is a key element in the consideration of the rights the accused. In the past, this legal remedy, in place since the days of the Magna Carta, existed to protect the rights of the accused. Constitutionally speaking, it had been established in the early 1940s that habeas corpus would stand if: â€Å"(1) the conviction is void for lack o f personal or subject matter jurisdiction; (2) the statute defining the offense is unconstitutional, or the conviction was obtained in violation of a federal constitutional right; (3) the statute authorizing the sentence is unconstitutional, or the sentence was obtained in violation of a federal constitutional right; (4) the sentence is contrary to the applicable statute, in excess of the statutory maximum, or otherwise unauthorized by law; or (5) the conviction or the sentence is otherwise deemed subject to collateral attack. † In times of crisis, this right has been suspended in the interest of national security, and has been suspended in the age of terrorism due to the need to make terrorists who are evading capture by authorities accountable in courts of law for their crimes. This, also, however is one of those fine points of law that draw criticism and scrutiny in many cases because anytime a right is suspended, innocent people are affected and their rights are often sacrificed, albeit for the sake of the common good. A closer look at the underpinnings of the Constitution itself reveals some interesting powers that many do not realize exist. For example, the Constitution does in fact give Congress the right to make laws as necessary to allow the Constitution to function as it was intended. This right, however, is akin to a broad stroke of a paintbrush, when the finer details of the stroke are really where the beauty lies. In other words, on the surface, it is true that Congress possesses such power, but this is also a power that is open to interpretation and debate. Where one draws the line between permissible monitoring and the trampling of the rights of the majority is an issue with which the American people are currently wrestling and undoubtedly will continue to do so for many years to come. With this in mind, there surely must be a balance to be obtained between sacrificing for the common good and giving up everything that Americans are constitutionally guaranteed. How Much Liberty Should US Citizens Give Up Under the Notion of National Security? It has been said that liberty is something which can be gained all at once, but often is stripped away one small piece at a time, like the gradual erosion of a mighty mountain. If this is true, the question of how many small pieces the citizens of the US can give away before a landslide consumes them? After the horrible events of September 11, 2001, it became readily apparent that there was a need for American governmental agencies to gather additional power if they were to properly mount an offensive against terrorism and to avert a repeat of the horrible events of that tragic day. This need to gather additional power was viewed by many as a feeble excuse for those within the government who craved power to grab as much as they wished, regardless of the inevitable fallout. Still others saw the sacrifice of a small amount of liberty as the necessary toll that needed to be paid for a much larger amount of overall protection and the long-term survival of the US while others around the world plotted to destroy the most powerful nation on earth. Again, however, as was mentioned at the beginning of this passage, small surrenders can sometimes lead to large damage over a period of time.

Heroic Code in the Iliad and the Odyssey :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In Webster’s Dictionary, a hero is defined as a person noted for courageous acts or nobility of purpose, especially if this individual has risked or sacrificed his life. In the Iliad and the Odyssey, the code which administers the conduct of the Homeric heroes is a straightforward idea. The aim of every hero is to achieve honor. Throughout the Iliad and the Odyssey, different characters take on the role of a hero. Honor is essential to the Homeric heroes, so much that life would be meaningless without it. Thus, honor is more important than life itself.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Throughout the Iliad, heroic characters make decisions based on a specific set of principles, which are referred to as the â€Å"code of honor.† The heroic code that Homer presents to readers is easy to recognize because the heroic code is the cause for many of the events that take place, but many of the characters have different perceptions of how highly the code should be regarded. Hector, the greatest of the Trojan warriors, begins the poem as a model for a hero. His dedication and firm belief in the code of honor is described many times throughout the course of the Iliad. As a reward for heroic traits in battle, prizes were sometimes awarded to victors of war. In Book 1 Achilles receives Chryseis as a prize and a symbol of honor. Heroism had its rewards and its setbacks which ultimately was the backbone of the Illiad in the case of Achilles prize. Hector, arguably the greatest Trojan warrior or even the bravest of the Homeric heroes is very fierce and f ights for what he believes is his destiny. In book VI Hector expresses his bravery when Andromache pleads with Hector not to fight when Hector says, â€Å"But I would die of shame to face the men of Troy and the Trojan woman trailing their long robes if I would shrink from battle now, a coward. Nor does the sprit urge me on that way. I’ve learned it all too well. To stand up bravely, always to fight in the front ranks of Trojan soldiers, winning my father great glory, glory for myself† (VI, 387). Achilles, the greatest of the Greek warriors, is portrayed as a hero in some ways but, on the other hand, performs some controversial acts in the Iliad. Throughout the entire Trojan war, Achilles spent most of his time pouting in his tent after Agamemnon kidnapped his prized maiden, Chryseis.

Diana in the Docks

Diana In the Dock : does privacy matter? ‘Diana' as used in the title is referring to the Former Princess of Wales ‘Princess Diana'. In November 1993 The mirror newspaper published photos of ‘princess Diana' while she was working out at a gym. These photo's were taken out of consent by Diana by the Gym owner Bryce Taylor who was paid over 100,000 pounds for the photos . Thus Princess Did had his assets frozen and sued him.Due to the fact Bryce Taylor was broke he seeded legal aid where he was provided with Geoffrey Robertson o defend him. Robertson describes this case through the use of a paradox in the opening paragraph â€Å"Diana had been the victim of a dirty trick which provided windfall profits to undeserving people† these undeserving people being ‘Bryce Taylor' and the mirror magazine. Donna's perspective is that her privacy was breached for common greed of monetary benefits by that of Bryce Taylor.However, Ironically for Bryce Taylor benefit his legal aid, lawyer Geoffrey Robertson â€Å"was the tutor of a textbook that analyses and deplored that absence of any privacy law In Britain† which represents to the reader Robertson's extents knowledge within the topic of privacy, Wealth Robertson's defense of Bryce Taylor he states when Diana places her self in the gym â€Å"It was like working out in a shop window† representing that her privacy was automatically violated and she's â€Å"nonetheless been inviting It to happen†.Thus puts us in a position to view Diana as someone who manipulates the Edie in order to suit her own ends. Robertson also states her relationship with the media as ‘a Faustian bargain' which refers to the story of Faust who sells his soul to the devil in order to gain greater power. This again supports Robertson's use of the disjunction of ‘bur In â€Å"but Diana wanted privacy only when It suited her†. Nonetheless as Robertson describes Donna's relationship with the media as ‘ a Faustian bargain' It shows that Diana had to sell her soul to the media in order to main good publicity and power.This is significantly supported by Robertson use of the metaphor In the concluding paragraph † In 1997 Diana was killed fleeing the flashbulbs† which has Robertson positions us to see Diana as someone who seeded the attention of the media and as this back fired she tried to ‘flee' where the consequence became death. Just like that of Faust who sold his soul to the devil , regretted it and was sent to hell. Therefore Robertson believes It's her own fault for her lack of privacy.

Non-Violence

With the simultaneous proliferation of technology and global-poltical danger in the modern world, strategies for countering both political oppression, and the outbreak of political violence and war are urgently needed.   Although the century which has recently slipped away — the Twentieth Century — may be remembered as â€Å"the bloodiest in history† (Martin 625), with hundreds of millions of people killed in wars and with weapons of mass destruction being â€Å"invented, built, deployed and further refined† (Martin 625) during the same century when state-sponsored genocide and terrorism became commonly known quantities.Against this backdrop of chaos, war, and an increasingly dangerous technological landscape, the philosophy of non-violence, or passive resistance, gained   an historical currency which is still unmatched. The activities of important leaders like Gandhi, King, and Mandela revealed the truly earth-changing, paradigm shifting   potential of non-violence resistance as a method for seizing social initiative and political power.Because of the actions of these three important leaders. plus a host of other lesser-known figures, and the action of millions of ordinary activists, â€Å"it can be argued that the rise of nonviolent action was one of the most important developments of the century†Ã‚   (Martin 625), and one which has tremendous potential for application in today's difficult and complex political world.While it is true enough that Gandhi, King, and Mandela over similar models of non-violent leadership and that key tenants of what might be termed a â€Å"universal† sense of non-violence pervade each leaders' philosophies, distinct differences are also recognizable   when a comparison of the three leaders' ideas, activities, and accomplishments is carried out. Such a study of similarities and differences in the philosophies and actions of these important leaders is crucial to understanding how the philosophy of non-violence may be applied in modern times as an antidote to the dangerous and oppressive climate that threatens much of the world.As noted, â€Å"Nonviolent action — including methods such as rallies, strikes, boycotts and sit-ins — has become increasingly important in the past century as a method for waging conflict and promoting social change† (Martin 625) and due to the urgent pressure caused by modern political and social challenges such as terrorism, global warming, the protection of human rights and religious freedom, adapting past approaches of non-violent action to present-day challenges may be beneficial.Non-violent activism may, in fact, help bring about important social changes: â€Å"Some areas for future expansion of the role of nonviolent action include replacing military defence, technological design, challenging capitalism, bureaucratic politics, information struggles and interpersonal behaviour† (Martin 625); the suggesti on of non-violence as an all-pervading philosophy applicable throughout the full strata of political and social issues may sound grandiose, but as we will see, this idea is actually a core-concept for the three leaders in our study.In this regard, non-violent philosophy takes it roots not in social, political or philosophical idea, but in spiritual convictions or even, spiritual revelation. An abstraction of  Ã‚   â€Å"nonviolence principles, building on the core dynamic of political jiu-jitsu in contexts where the opponent does not use physical force† (Martin 625) may be the best way to intuitively understand that non-violence does not indicate non-action of total passivity in the face of aggression. Such a distinction is difficult to pin down, but it is a crucial part of activism, manifest in the breaking of â€Å"unjust† laws, and passive resistant behaviors which, if not violent, certainly imply action by the participants.In order to shed light on some of the mo re challenging aspects of non-violent activism, such as the spiritual aspect, as well as investigate the potential application of non-violent philosophy in modern times, the following brief examination of non-violent philosophy according to each leader: Gandhi, King, and Mandela, will attempt to sketch a general idea of the similarities and differences of each leader's approach and attempt to discover if any type of universal vision of non-violent philosophy can be discovered.GANDHIFor Gandhi, non-violence arises out of an organic human impulse or † basic law of our being† (Gandhi, and Merton 23); such a conviction, foe Gandhi, is based not in genetic or biological assumptions or evidence or in logistical philosophical reasoning, but in spiritual ideas. For Gandhi, â€Å"Ahimsa (non-violence)†Ã‚   (Gandhi, and Merton 23) is the opposite of   â€Å"himsa (violence)†Ã‚   (Gandhi, and Merton 23), and the attributes of each energy are just as distinct. While Ahimsa â€Å"can be used as the most effective principle for social action, since it is in deep accord with the truth of man's nature and corresponds to his innate desire for peace, justice, order, freedom, and personal dignity† (Gandhi, and Merton 23), its opposite energy, himsa, â€Å"degrades and corrupts man† (Gandhi, and Merton 23); therefore to bring himsa energy against himsa energy would be to fight fire with fire.By contrast, the application of ahimsa or non-violent energy to the problem of himsa energy â€Å"heals and restores man's nature, while giving him a means to restore social order and justice† (Gandhi, and Merton 23). The important thing to remember here is that, for Gandhi, ahimsa and himsa energies are not metaphorical reflections or abstract concepts, they are living, spiritual realities.   Although the capacity for ahimsa resides in each person, modern society has left humanity with a much more desperate and disordered reliance on himsa e nergy.For Gandhi such an alienation of man's true capacities has resulted in a culture where â€Å"violence seems to be the very foundation of social order and is â€Å"enthroned as if it were an eternal law,† so that man is called upon by society to reject love† (Gandhi, and Merton 43) and instead embrace a social reality which is enforced by violence or by the threat of violence.To meet this himsa-driven society with ahimsa energy adn non-violence requires supreme courage on behalf of the activist. This extraordinary courage, according to Gandhi, is derived from God:This courage demands nothing short of the ability to face death with complete   Ã‚   fearlessness and to suffer without retaliation. Such a program is meaningless and   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   impossible, Gandhi thinks, without belief in God.  (Gandhi, and Merton 43)The implication in Gandhi's ideas is that the activist or the â€Å"Satyagrahi† is enabled, in fact: bound, by God to break the laws of man when they are unjust. The decision as to how it is determined that a law is unjust is murky and unclear, as we will see: this same ambiguity marks both King and Mandela's own approach to non-violent activism. The historical truth is that Gandhi made clear that each â€Å"Satyagrahi was bound to resist all those laws which he considered to be unjust and which were not of a criminal character, in order to bend the Government to the will of the people† (Gandhi 21) and it is this kind of â€Å"twisting† which comprises the active aspect of non-violent activism.KINGThe expression of non-violent activism by King relied as much on spiritual conviction as that of Gandhi. This conviction brought about a similar adherence to   the concept of breaking â€Å"unjust† laws as a method of civil disobedience. King, like Gandhi, found justification for the breaking of social laws by the invocation of Divine Power. The result was that King experienced some difficulty in ma king his racial and social activism truly universal, although such a desire to do so formed an underlying precept of his overall strategy for social and political change.In a rather unique twist of philosophy, King opted to not only resist unjust laws non-violently, but tor each out to his so-called opponents: white racists with language of reconciliation, good-will, and fellowship. King's invocations of â€Å"the good to be achieved† (Wolf, and Rosen) were powerful   counterparts to his criticisms of the social conditions he sought to transform.Since King's goal was to â€Å"to bring the Negro into the mainstream of American life as quickly as possible† (Wolf, and Rosen) his reliance on civil disobedience and the breaking of unjust laws by Divine justification, like Gandhi's, requires a deeper examination. Such revelation is possible due to King's extensive writings; in particular his â€Å"Letter From a Birmingham Jail† a famous document where he addresses t he concern of his fellow clergymen regarding the breaking of laws by civil activists.The letter repeatedly appeals to a shared sense of religion; King also cites Biblical examples to bolster his argument.  Ã‚   Responding to the criticism that his actions and the actions of his followers, even though non-violent in practice, ultimately resulted in violence on the behalf of the white Southerners who beat and jailed the protestor (and sometimes lynched or otherwise killed African Americans), King compared the fight for civil rights with the fight of Jesus to spread the gospel.King's appeal via religion and spirituality was based in a desire for unity and understanding. While he denied accusations of extremity or of inciting violence, he admitted that the impulse for civil rights was, by his reckoning, the will   of God.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   King advises that the will of all people is toward freedom and equality.   â€Å"Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The yearning for freedom eventually manifests itself, and that is what has happened to the American Negro.† (King)By forwarding the notion that civil rights are an inevitable outgrowth of both God's will and the flow of history, King is, in effect, offering a justification for his tactics and philosophies regarding civil rights.The justification for the elements of passive resistance which had led to violent confrontation is also based in King's ideas of justice. King's idea is that God's law is the highest law and that man's laws may be broken when they obviously disagree with or even insult God's law.With the belief that God's Law is the highest law and that history shows that all people will struggle for freedom and liberty, and by appealing to the rational sense of justice and the emotional and spiritual senses of brotherhood and love, King attains justification for his actions but does not seek to evade or subvert laws outright.MANDELAUnlike King, Mandela called for delib erate confrontation with the forces of apartheid which apposed his view of liberation and freedom. Although he repeatedly expressed his opinion that he was not, in fact, a racist himself, Mandela's rhetoric unlike King and Gandhi's, â€Å"was more polarizing† (Wolf, and Rosen); for example, Mandela never attempted â€Å"to appeal to whites† and he sought by confrontational rhetoric coupled with non-violent activism to † through greater polarization to galvanize the situation to crisis levels, thereby compelling action by the international community† (Wolf, and Rosen) which in itself presents a divergence in thought from Gandhi and King both of whom sough reconciliation with their enemies.However, rhetoric was simply another tool in Mandela's non-violent philosophical approach. When, at key moments, he might have called for violence, in actuality, he strove for non-violent change. he might have â€Å"easily have called for a violent overthrow of the South A frican government upon his release after 27 years in prison† (Pierce 1) but rather than do so, he advocated non-violent resistance.The idea of appealing to the world community adds another dimension to the non-violent approach of activism. For Mandela, â€Å"In this scenario, â€Å"the international community† becomes subrogated to the role of â€Å"broader constituency† that Mandela evoked indirectly†Ã‚   (Wolf, and Rosen) but whose support and intervention proved crucial to his success. Because of his sometimes volatile rhetoric, Mandela took special care to â€Å"emphasize his desire for reconciliation across the divide of colour† and repeatedly â€Å"pledged himself anew to work for a multiracial society in which all would have a secure place† (Pierce 175).Contemporary Impact of Non-Violent StrategiesDespite the contributions of great thinkers and activists like those examined in the preceding, brief discussion, the fact is contemporary s ociety seems no less preoccupied with violence than ever before. By examining the media one has the distinct impression that in the world of media and media-related technology, a great deal of concern has been expressed by both everyday observers and specialists in social-psychology over the possible negative impacts that media, and in particular media portrayals of violence, may have upon small children and adolescent children.One of the most complex facets of the issue is the still-unknown impact that new technologies such as 24 hour a day cable programming, widespread Internet access, and the â€Å"digital age† in general will have on the generation of young people who are presently the first to be so overwhelmed by such widespread media and media technologies.An immersive and nearly all-pervading sense of media exists in modern homes that, in fact, the presence of media can be said to form a basis of â€Å"reality† for many people. It is this exact kind of blurred distinction between perceived reality (based on media models and information) and reality (those aspects of life which stand apart from media and media-based models).The distinction between media-reality and reality is not always clear, particularly to small children and adolescent children: â€Å"The boundaries between reality and unreality are especially permeable for small children. They are unable, through at least the age of three or four, to distinguish fact from fantasy. Even older children rarely manage to keep â€Å"real life† and vicarious experience in watertight compartments† (Bok 1999, 38) as we will see in the following discussion.The main impact repeated viewings of media violence seems to exert over small children and adolescents is the conflation of media-violence with organic psychological processes, many of which exist at such a deep, primitive psychological level in humans that manipulation of these emotions, and psychological dispositions remains, for the most part, beyond the conscious perception of the viewer. In conclusion, although the idea of media-responsibility regarding the impact of violent programming on children and young adults is often cited by critics as a form of censorship, ample scientific evidence and research exists to establish media-violence as a certain source of negative influence on young people.The fact of the matter remains despite the right of free speech that media-reality and actual reality are non-distinct at some deep, organic level in human psychology: † weeks earlier the Los Angeles police officers whose roadside beating of motorist Rodney King had been shown on TV screens the world over had been acquitted by an all-white jury[†¦]In that crisis, the boundaries between movies and reality blurred, not only for the public but also for Hollywood producers, directors, and actors who were seeing smoke rising beneath their hillside residences and hearing sirens echo up and down the canyons ,† (Bok 1999, 36); with such a confusing and agitating impact of adult professionals, what can we expect when we expose our children to the same cultural ambiguities through media?If non-violent philosophy according to Gandhi, king, and Mandela is correct then violence is not   a norm in human society, but a constructed evil. If, as the proponents of non-violent philosophy suggest, â€Å"non-violent settlement of conflict is the human norm as we well know from daily experience. We are not programmed in some genetic way to violence† (Kent) than a radical re-visioning of our self-identity and self-image as human beings must take place not only in our media and in our educational facilities, but in our individual psyches as well.The applications of non-violent strategies in contemporary culture can be thought of as being as unknown as the implications of deep-space travel because even though the contributions of such historical leaders as Gandhi, King, and Mandela reveal s the tremendous power of non-violent activism, the full impact of the philosophy as articulated by these men has far-reaching cultural, global-poltical, and spiritual implications which surpass anything which has yet occurred in history.In other words, the â€Å"pioneers† of the â€Å"modern† incarnation of non-violent strategy which we have examined: Gandhi, King, and Mandela represent not the totality of what the non-violent philosophy can or wants to attain, but the mere beginning of a global transformation which is rooted not inly in the basic moral nature of humanity, but in humanity's spiritual destiny and responsibility.Certainly individual leaders and activists continue to utilize the non-violent approach to attain important results in their areas of influence. Modern technology can also help individual activists to promote change by spreading honest information regarding the repercussions of violence and the militarization of political issues. One recent exam ple is when â€Å"a 1991 massacre in the East Timorese capital Dill was recorded on videotape and subsequently broadcast worldwide, this generated enormous support for the resistance† (Martin 625); such applications of technology by individuals represent one small but important aspect of the many avenues of potential non-violent methods of change.Other methods include educational strategies based in the ideas forwarded by Gandhi, King, and Mandela. The recognition of the historical impact of the immensely influential strategies of non-violent change and civil disobedience will also help to inform and empower individuals who, in turn, may adopt some of the strategies and ideas reflected upon in the above discussion to help bring about social and political change through non-violent means.ConclusionThe examination of three important world-leaders who based their activism in non-violent philosophy reveals certain universal traits among the different incarnations of non-violent a ctivism. Among these universal traits is a belief in the breaking of â€Å"unjust† laws for the purpose of bringing about social and political change. This belief is often, if not always, accompanied by an ambiguous but firmly articulated that such a braking of laws is based in Divine Will. Another core belief seems to be that non-violence rather than violence is, in fact, more in keeping with humanity's organic nature. This idea often results in a corresponding belief that the violence evident in human society is the result of a kind of perversion of humanity's natural attributes into an unnatural and unhealthy state.Against this backdrop, it is very difficult if not impossible to envision the philosophies of non-violent activism as we know them today as anything short of a religious and spiritual philosophy with extremely pragmatic roots in social and political activism. Not only is the spiritual aspect of non-violent philosophy seemingly universal in the three historical f igures studied in this short discussion, but the attributes of spirituality embraced by non-violent activists are, in themselves, of great and abiding interest to any observer. A discussion of this aspect alone would probably reveal that the philosophy of non-violence has existed as a spiritual conviction at various times in various cultures throughout the entire history of humanity.Works CitedBarker, Martin and Julian Petley, eds. 2001. Ill Effects: The Media/Violence Debate. New York:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Routledge.Bok, Sissela. 1999. Mayhem Violence as Public Entertainment. Reading, MA: Perseus Books.Gandhi, M. K. Non-Violent Resistance (Satyagraha). New York: Schocken Books, 1961.Gandhi, Mahatma, and Thomas Merton. Gandhi on Non-Violence. New York: New Directions   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Pub, 1965.Kent, Bruce. â€Å"Non-Violence: The History of a Dangerous Idea.† History Today Feb. 2007: 62+.Mandela, Tambo, and the African National Congress The Struggle against Apartheid, 1948-  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   1990. Ed. Sheridan Johns and R. Hunt Davis. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991.Martin, Brian. â€Å"Nonviolent Futures.† Futures 33.7 (2001): 625.Pierce, Victoria. â€Å"A Tribute to Dr. King Civil Rights Leader's Legacy of Non- Violence Is Alive   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   around the World.† Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, IL) 29 Sept. 2006: 1.Wolf, Charles, and Brian Rosen. â€Å"Public Diplomacy: Lessons from King and Mandela.† Policy Review (2005): 63+. Non-Violence With the simultaneous proliferation of technology and global-poltical danger in the modern world, strategies for countering both political oppression, and the outbreak of political violence and war are urgently needed.   Although the century which has recently slipped away — the Twentieth Century — may be remembered as â€Å"the bloodiest in history† (Martin 625), with hundreds of millions of people killed in wars and with weapons of mass destruction being â€Å"invented, built, deployed and further refined† (Martin 625) during the same century when state-sponsored genocide and terrorism became commonly known quantities.Against this backdrop of chaos, war, and an increasingly dangerous technological landscape, the philosophy of non-violence, or passive resistance, gained   an historical currency which is still unmatched. The activities of important leaders like Gandhi, King, and Mandela revealed the truly earth-changing, paradigm shifting   potential of non-violence resistance as a method for seizing social initiative and political power. Because of the actions of these three important leaders. plus a host of other lesser-known figures, and the action of millions of ordinary activists, â€Å"it can be argued that the rise of nonviolent action was one of the most important developments of the century†Ã‚   (Martin 625), and one which has tremendous potential for application in today's difficult and complex political world.While it is true enough that Gandhi, King, and Mandela over similar models of non-violent leadership and that key tenants of what might be termed a â€Å"universal† sense of non-violence pervade each leaders' philosophies, distinct differences are also recognizable   when a comparison of the three leaders' ideas, activities, and accomplishments is carried out. Such a study of similarities and differences in the philosophies and actions of these important leaders is crucial to understanding how th e philosophy of non-violence may be applied in modern times as an antidote to the dangerous and oppressive climate that threatens much of the world. As noted, â€Å"Nonviolent action — including methods such as rallies, strikes, boycotts and sit-ins — has become increasingly important in the past century as a method for waging conflict and promoting social change† (Martin 625) and due to the urgent pressure caused by modern political and social challenges such as terrorism, global warming, the protection of human rights and religious freedom, adapting past approaches of non-violent action to present-day challenges may be beneficial.Non-violent activism may, in fact, help bring about important social changes: â€Å"Some areas for future expansion of the role of nonviolent action include replacing military defence, technological design, challenging capitalism, bureaucratic politics, information struggles and interpersonal behaviour† (Martin 625); the sugges tion of non-violence as an all-pervading philosophy applicable throughout the full strata of political and social issues may sound grandiose, but as we will see, this idea is actually a core-concept for the three leaders in our study.In this regard, non-violent philosophy takes it roots not in social, political or philosophical idea, but in spiritual convictions or even, spiritual revelation. An abstraction of  Ã‚   â€Å"nonviolence principles, building on the core dynamic of political jiu-jitsu in contexts where the opponent does not use physical force† (Martin 625) may be the best way to intuitively understand that non-violence does not indicate non-action of total passivity in the face of aggression. Such a distinction is difficult to pin down, but it is a crucial part of activism, manifest in the breaking of â€Å"unjust† laws, and passive resistant behaviors which, if not violent, certainly imply action by the participants.In order to shed light on some of the more challenging aspects of non-violent activism, such as the spiritual aspect, as well as investigate the potential application of non-violent philosophy in modern times, the following brief examination of non-violent philosophy according to each leader: Gandhi, King, and Mandela, will attempt to sketch a general idea of the similarities and differences of each leader's approach and attempt to discover if any type of universal vision of non-violent philosophy can be discovered.For Gandhi, non-violence arises out of an organic human impulse or † basic law of our being† (Gandhi, and Merton 23); such a conviction, foe Gandhi, is based not in genetic or biological assumptions or evidence or in logistical philosophical reasoning, but in spiritual ideas. For Gandhi, â€Å"Ahimsa (non-violence)†Ã‚   (Gandhi, and Merton 23) is the opposite of   â€Å"himsa (violence)†Ã‚   (Gandhi, and Merton 23), and the attributes of each energy are just as distinct. While Ahim sa â€Å"can be used as the most effective principle for social action, since it is in deep accord with the truth of man's nature and corresponds to his innate desire for peace, justice, order, freedom, and personal dignity† (Gandhi, and Merton 23), its opposite energy, himsa, â€Å"degrades and corrupts man† (Gandhi, and Merton 23); therefore to bring himsa energy against himsa energy would be to fight fire with fire.By contrast, the application of ahimsa or non-violent energy to the problem of himsa energy â€Å"heals and restores man's nature, while giving him a means to restore social order and justice† (Gandhi, and Merton 23). The important thing to remember here is that, for Gandhi, ahimsa and himsa energies are not metaphorical reflections or abstract concepts, they are living, spiritual realities.   Although the capacity for ahimsa resides in each person, modern society has left humanity with a much more desperate and disordered reliance on himsa energ y. For Gandhi such an alienation of man's true capacities has resulted in a culture where â€Å"violence seems to be the very foundation of social order and is â€Å"enthroned as if it were an eternal law,† so that man is called upon by society to reject love† (Gandhi, and Merton 43) and instead embrace a social reality which is enforced by violence or by the threat of violence.To meet this himsa-driven society with ahimsa energy adn non-violence requires supreme courage on behalf of the activist. This extraordinary courage, according to Gandhi, is derived from God:This courage demands nothing short of the ability to face death with complete fearlessness and to suffer without retaliation. Such a program is meaningless and impossible, Gandhi thinks, without belief in God.The implication in Gandhi's ideas is that the activist or the â€Å"Satyagrahi† is enabled, in fact: bound, by God to break the laws of man when they are unjust. The decision as to how it is dete rmined that a law is unjust is murky and unclear, as we will see: this same ambiguity marks both King and Mandela's own approach to non-violent activism. The historical truth is that Gandhi made clear that each â€Å"Satyagrahi was bound to resist all those laws which he considered to be unjust and which were not of a criminal character, in order to bend the Government to the will of the people† (Gandhi 21) and it is this kind of â€Å"twisting† which comprises the active aspect of non-violent activism.The expression of non-violent activism by King relied as much on spiritual conviction as that of Gandhi. This conviction brought about a similar adherence to   the concept of breaking â€Å"unjust† laws as a method of civil disobedience. King, like Gandhi, found justification for the breaking of social laws by the invocation of Divine Power. The result was that King experienced some difficulty in making his racial and social activism truly universal, although su ch a desire to do so formed an underlying precept of his overall strategy for social and political change. In a rather unique twist of philosophy, King opted to not only resist unjust laws non-violently, but tor each out to his so-called opponents: white racists with language of reconciliation, good-will, and fellowship. King's invocations of â€Å"the good to be achieved† (Wolf, and Rosen) were powerful   counterparts to his criticisms of the social conditions he sought to transform.Since King's goal was to â€Å"to bring the Negro into the mainstream of American life as quickly as possible† (Wolf, and Rosen) his reliance on civil disobedience and the breaking of unjust laws by Divine justification, like Gandhi's, requires a deeper examination. Such revelation is possible due to King's extensive writings; in particular his â€Å"Letter From a Birmingham Jail† a famous document where he addresses the concern of his fellow clergymen regarding the breaking of la ws by civil activists. The letter repeatedly appeals to a shared sense of religion; King also cites Biblical examples to bolster his argument.  Ã‚   Responding to the criticism that his actions and the actions of his followers, even though non-violent in practice, ultimately resulted in violence on the behalf of the white Southerners who beat and jailed the protestor (and sometimes lynched or otherwise killed African Americans), King compared the fight for civil rights with the fight of Jesus to spread the gospel.King's appeal via religion and spirituality was based in a desire for unity and understanding. While he denied accusations of extremity or of inciting violence, he admitted that the impulse for civil rights was, by his reckoning, the will   of God.   Ã‚   King advises that the will of all people is toward freedom and equality.   â€Å"Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The yearning for freedom eventually manifests itself, and that is what has happene d to the American Negro.† (King) By forwarding the notion that civil rights are an inevitable outgrowth of both God's will and the flow of history, King is, in effect, offering a justification for his tactics and philosophies regarding civil rights.The justification for the elements of passive resistance which had led to violent confrontation is also based in King's ideas of justice. King's idea is that God's law is the highest law and that man's laws may be broken when they obviously disagree with or even insult God's law.With the belief that God's Law is the highest law and that history shows that all people will struggle for freedom and liberty, and by appealing to the rational sense of justice and the emotional and spiritual senses of brotherhood and love, King attains justification for his actions but does not seek to evade or subvert laws outright.Unlike King, Mandela called for deliberate confrontation with the forces of apartheid which apposed his view of liberation an d freedom. Although he repeatedly expressed his opinion that he was not, in fact, a racist himself, Mandela's rhetoric unlike King and Gandhi's, â€Å"was more polarizing† (Wolf, and Rosen); for example, Mandela never attempted â€Å"to appeal to whites† and he sought by confrontational rhetoric coupled with non-violent activism to † through greater polarization to galvanize the situation to crisis levels, thereby compelling action by the international community† (Wolf, and Rosen) which in itself presents a divergence in thought from Gandhi and King both of whom sough reconciliation with their enemies.However, rhetoric was simply another tool in Mandela's non-violent philosophical approach. When, at key moments, he might have called for violence, in actuality, he strove for non-violent change. he might have â€Å"easily have called for a violent overthrow of the South African government upon his release after 27 years in prison† (Pierce 1) but rather than do so, he advocated non-violent resistance. The idea of appealing to the world community adds another dimension to the non-violent approach of activism. For Mandela, â€Å"In this scenario, â€Å"the international community† becomes subrogated to the role of â€Å"broader constituency† that Mandela evoked indirectly†Ã‚   (Wolf, and Rosen) but whose support and intervention proved crucial to his success. Because of his sometimes volatile rhetoric, Mandela took special care to â€Å"emphasize his desire for reconciliation across the divide of colour† and repeatedly â€Å"pledged himself anew to work for a multiracial society in which all would have a secure place† (Pierce 175).Contemporary Impact of Non-Violent StrategiesDespite the contributions of great thinkers and activists like those examined in the preceding, brief discussion, the fact is contemporary society seems no less preoccupied with violence than ever before. By examining the media one has the distinct impression that in the world of media and media-related technology, a great deal of concern has been expressed by both everyday observers and specialists in social-psychology over the possible negative impacts that media, and in particular media portrayals of violence, may have upon small children and adolescent children. One of the most complex facets of the issue is the still-unknown impact that new technologies such as 24 hour a day cable programming, widespread Internet access, and the â€Å"digital age† in general will have on the generation of young people who are presently the first to be so overwhelmed by such widespread media and media technologies.An immersive and nearly all-pervading sense of media exists in modern homes that, in fact, the presence of media can be said to form a basis of â€Å"reality† for many people. It is this exact kind of blurred distinction between perceived reality (based on media models and information) and real ity (those aspects of life which stand apart from media and media-based models).   The distinction between media-reality and reality is not always clear, particularly to small children and adolescent children: â€Å"The boundaries between reality and unreality are especially permeable for small children. They are unable, through at least the age of three or four, to distinguish fact from fantasy. Even older children rarely manage to keep â€Å"real life† and vicarious experience in watertight compartments† (Bok 1999, 38) as we will see in the following discussion.The main impact repeated viewings of media violence seems to exert over small children and adolescents is the conflation of media-violence with organic psychological processes, many of which exist at such a deep, primitive psychological level in humans that manipulation of these emotions, and psychological dispositions remains, for the most part, beyond the conscious perception of the viewer. In conclusion, although the idea of media-responsibility regarding the impact of violent programming on children and young adults is often cited by critics as a form of censorship, ample scientific evidence and research exists to establish media-violence as a certain source of negative influence on young people.The fact of the matter remains despite the right of free speech that media-reality and actual reality are non-distinct at some deep, organic level in human psychology: † weeks earlier the Los Angeles police officers whose roadside beating of motorist Rodney King had been shown on TV screens the world over had been acquitted by an all-white jury[†¦]In that crisis, the boundaries between movies and reality blurred, not only for the public but also for Hollywood producers, directors, and actors who were seeing smoke rising beneath their hillside residences and hearing sirens echo up and down the canyons,† (Bok 1999, 36); with such a confusing and agitating impact of adult prof essionals, what can we expect when we expose our children to the same cultural ambiguities through media?If non-violent philosophy according to Gandhi, king, and Mandela is correct then violence is not   a norm in human society, but a constructed evil. If, as the proponents of non-violent philosophy suggest, â€Å"non-violent settlement of conflict is the human norm as we well know from daily experience. We are not programmed in some genetic way to violence† (Kent) than a radical re-visioning of our self-identity and self-image as human beings must take place not only in our media and in our educational facilities, but in our individual psyches as well.The applications of non-violent strategies in contemporary culture can be thought of as being as unknown as the implications of deep-space travel because even though the contributions of such historical leaders as Gandhi, King, and Mandela reveals the tremendous power of non-violent activism, the full impact of the philosophy as articulated by these men has far-reaching cultural, global-poltical, and spiritual implications which surpass anything which has yet occurred in history.   In other words, the â€Å"pioneers† of the â€Å"modern† incarnation of non-violent strategy which we have examined: Gandhi, King, and Mandela represent not the totality of what the non-violent philosophy can or wants to attain, but the mere beginning of a global transformation which is rooted not inly in the basic moral nature of humanity, but in humanity's spiritual destiny and responsibility.Certainly individual leaders and activists continue to utilize the non-violent approach to attain important results in their areas of influence. Modern technology can also help individual activists to promote change by spreading honest information regarding the repercussions of violence and the militarization of political issues. One recent example is when â€Å"a 1991 massacre in the East Timorese capital Dill was rec orded on videotape and subsequently broadcast worldwide, this generated enormous support for the resistance† (Martin 625); such applications of technology by individuals represent one small but important aspect of the many avenues of potential non-violent methods of change.Other methods include educational strategies based in the ideas forwarded by Gandhi, King, and Mandela. The recognition of the historical impact of the immensely influential strategies of non-violent change and civil disobedience will also help to inform and empower individuals who, in turn, may adopt some of the strategies and ideas reflected upon in the above discussion to help bring about social and political change through non-violent means.ConclusionThe examination of three important world-leaders who based their activism in non-violent philosophy reveals certain universal traits among the different incarnations of non-violent activism. Among these universal traits is a belief in the breaking of â€Å" unjust† laws for the purpose of bringing about social and political change. This belief is often, if not always, accompanied by an ambiguous but firmly articulated that such a braking of laws is based in Divine Will. Another core belief seems to be that non-violence rather than violence is, in fact, more in keeping with humanity's organic nature. This idea often results in a corresponding belief that the violence evident in human society is the result of a kind of perversion of humanity's natural attributes into an unnatural and unhealthy state.Against this backdrop, it is very difficult if not impossible to envision the philosophies of non-violent activism as we know them today as anything short of a religious and spiritual philosophy with extremely pragmatic roots in social and political activism. Not only is the spiritual aspect of non-violent philosophy seemingly universal in the three historical figures studied in this short discussion, but the attributes of spirituality embraced by non-violent activists are, in themselves, of great and abiding interest to any observer. A discussion of this aspect alone would probably reveal that the philosophy of non-violence has existed as a spiritual conviction at various times in various cultures throughout the entire history of humanity.Works CitedBarker, Martin and Julian Petley, eds. 2001. Ill Effects: The Media/Violence Debate. New York:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Routledge.Bok, Sissela. 1999. Mayhem Violence as Public Entertainment. Reading, MA: Perseus Books.Gandhi, M. K. Non-Violent Resistance (Satyagraha). New York: Schocken Books, 1961.Gandhi, Mahatma, and Thomas Merton. Gandhi on Non-Violence. New York: New Directions   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Pub, 1965.Kent, Bruce. â€Å"Non-Violence: The History of a Dangerous Idea.† History Today Feb. 2007: 62+.Mandela, Tambo, and the African National Congress The Struggle against Apartheid, 1948-   1990. Ed. Sheridan Johns and R. Hunt Davis. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991.Martin, Brian. â€Å"Nonviolent Futures.† Futures 33.7 (2001): 625.Pierce, Victoria. â€Å"A Tribute to Dr. King Civil Rights Leader's Legacy of Non- Violence Is Alive   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   around the World.† Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, IL) 29 Sept. 2006: 1.Wolf, Charles, and Brian Rosen. â€Å"Public Diplomacy: Lessons from King and Mandela.† Policy   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Review (2005): 63+.